My first exposure to magnepan was back in 1975 when an audiophile friend invited me to hear his system. His room was really small. Just 9 feet by 9 feet. He had a pair of Tympani in that tiny room and the sound was fabulous.
koetsu makes too many models to track. Then there are the aftermarket modified Koetsus. I suppose it will boil down to whether you trust the seller and if it sounds like a Koetsu. If you like and enjoy the sound, don't be nervous about it being fake or not. At the end of the day, enjoying...
Your description of the owner sounds familiar to me. I just don't recall him having a pair of Amatis. I am wondering if the owner is the friend who got me to buy the other pair of Guarneris when they were introduced here?
I agree that Mitch Cotter sut and Koetsu are synergistic. To carry the synergy further, an Audio Research phono stage at the end of a Koetsu, Mitch Cotter chain is my preferred poison.
That is a beautiful space germinal. I would bring in a professional room treatment service. You can tell them what you consider important to make you like the sound and they will design the accoustic to suit your taste.
I just read this thread from the start and I realize that:
1) Koetsu fans are so devoted they have multiple units.
2) The cartridge that might sound closest to a Koetsu if I were to guess might be Supex. Supex was the cartridge that Sugano San designed before he started Koetsu.
3) The nude...
The first time I heard ABBA was when I was in university and some classmates invited me to spend the break between semesters island hopping. In one of our stays, we were the only guests in the resort and a classmate who brought an ABBA casette tape requested the dining room staff to play it...